Webmaker Recipes 101: How to host your own kitchen table hack jam

As part of Mozilla’s big Summer Code Party(kicking off June 23), we’re inviting the world to host teach-ins and learning events. Everywhere. At their local library, at partner events, at Mozilla offices, and with small groups of family and friends around their own kitchen table.

Recipes for webmaking: testing the “Kitchen Table” event kit

the new "Kitchen Table event kit" prototype

This new Kitchen Table Event Kit is a draft “how to” for hosting your own kitchen table hack jam. We invited you to help prototype and test it in preparation for going big this summer, using Mozilla webmaking tools like Hackasaurus and Popcorn.

8-year-old Amelia liked remixing images and text to create her own web page

What was your favorite moment?

Here’s what our brave beta testers said was their favorite part of the experience:

“The SQUEAL when my friend first hacked Google.”

“When my mom replaced an image of a chocolate chip cookie on a webpage of a kitchen table with an image of matzo so it was kosher for passover.”

“When (5 and 6-year old) Lucas and Kai saw themselves in a web page with their freshly captivated snail, they so began to get the idea of how info gets into the web.”

“Watching my boyfriend and my mom work on something together.”

“When my friends started ignoring me completely so that they could make their remixes more remixy. I was talking about something and they were like ‘What?'”

What we learned:

People enjoyed the format. But sometimes found it awkward to get out of a traditional “teacher” role.

Keep the activity asks simple. But be familiar with the specific skills and interests of participants.

Grow a leadership community of people who’ve done the events and can support others.

Make it interest-based. Start with something people are already interested in. Or a web site they use all the time and are familiar with — then have them take it apart and remix it with the X-Ray Goggles.